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MMITTEE ON INSULAR AFFAIRS 
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 



WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 1908 



STATEMENTS OF 

HON. WM. H. TAFT 

SECRETARY OF WAR 

MR. WM. MORGAN SHUSTER 

PHILIPPINE COMMISSION 



^ 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1908 

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!909 



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HEARING ON SENATE BILL 5262. 



Committee on Insular Affairs, 

House of Representatives, 

Wednesday, April 15, 190S. 
The committee met at 10.30 a. m., Hon. Henry A. Cooper, chair- 
man, presiding. 

STATEMENT OF HON. WILLIAM H. TAFT, SECRETARY OF WAR. 

The Chairman. We are liere this morninii; to have a hearinu' on 
Senate bill 5262. It is a bill "to repeal an act approved A|)rir 30. 
1906, to regulate shipping in trade between ports of the United 
States and ports or jilaces in the Philipj)ine Archipelago, and between 
ports or places in the Philip()ine Archipelago, and for other jmrposes." 

Secretar}^ Taft. Yes, sir. Let me say that the act makes no 
change in the existing law except in section 3, and that change is 
only that it makes permanent the nonapplicability of the coastwise 
laws to the trade between the Ignited States and the Philippine 
Islands. 

The Chairman. Please slate to the coininittee the reason and the 
necessity for this legislation. 

Secretary Taft. The reason for it is that it would require an 
awkward statement in respect to the amendments of various acts, 
and therefore it was thought wiser, I believe, in the Senate, to reenact 
certain things which are in the law to-day, as for instance, the first 
secton. 

The first section permits the Filipino legislature to regulate the 
interisland trade as it sees fit. That is the law to-day. 

The second section treats vessels coining into the United States 
from the Philippines, so far as the tonnage is concerned, exactly as 
if they were our own vessels. That is the law to-dav. 

The third section is the section to which I refer, and is the efiective 
section of the act. That is, it makes permanent the nonapphcability 
of the coastwise laws as to the tratle between the Philippines and the 
ITnited States. 

Section 4 is a reenactment of the provisions with respect to 
licenses, lighterage, and that sort of thing. The fifth section is 
already the law. The sixth section is the repealing clause. 

The Chairman. That really applies only to section 3. 

Secretary Taft. ^'es, sir; it repeals that section of the law which 
l)rovides that the coastwise trading laws shall only a])ply until July 1, 
1909; and the only efiect of this law is to extend that time indefi- 
nitely. 

The Chairman. You said July, but my impression is that it is 
April. The annual report of the Bureau of Insular Afi'airs fixes 
April 11, 1909, as the date when the law is to go into efi'ect. 



4 HEARING ON SENATE BILL 52H2. 

Secretary Taft. Then I am wrong about it. I thought it was the 
1st of July. The passage of this act is for the benefit of the friends of 
the Pliihppine Islands. The Bureau of Insular Afiairs is constantly 
on watch in respect to legislation in Congress aflecting the Pliihppines, 
to prevent the necessity of making any eft'ort in respect to the non- 
applicabilit}^ of the law. That is all the way in which the law is 
affected. It makes permanent the policy of relief of trade between 
the United States and the Philippine Islands from the impositions 
of the coastwise laws. The wisdom of Congress is already shown in 
making a temj^orary suspension, and there is not the slightest doubt 
about the wisdom of making that provision permanent, for the rea- 
son — and I think the reason will appeal to those of us who were 
originally in favor of making the coastwise laws applicable to the 
shipping interests — that it is the only possible means of improving 
the business. The only possible means of improving the business 
and giving it to our American bottoms would be a subsidy bill which 
would put them by direct contribution on an equality with foreign 
trading, for the reason that if by law you say that nothing shall pass 
between the Philippines and the United States except in American 
bottouAs, which is the effect of the operation of the coastwise law, 
that you ini])ose a burden on that trade ecjual to the higher rate that 
American ships are ])ound to charge, in view of the laws which govern 
the operation of American ships, and the necessity for the employ- 
ment of more expensive labor and many other limitations on the 
management of American ships. 

\\Tiat is going to be the effect of that!' The people of the Philip- 
pine Islands do not have to trade with the United States if they do 
not want to. There is no obligation on their part to buy anything 
in the United States nor send anything to the Uniteti wStates. Their 
merchants have the privilege of dealing with any country they 
please, and therefore they deal where they can sell best and buy the 
cheapest, and if you impose upon them the burden or necessity of 
sending in American bottoms what they sell and buy, then American 
bottoms will not come to the United States at all. In other words, 
it tends to help the ships of the United States. They have the option 
to deal with any country, unless we want to pass a law, as they did 
in England in reference to Ireland, governing the business of that 
islantl, but I suppose Congress does not w^ant to go that far. 

Mr. Jones. Would not the effect of the application of the coast- 
wise laws to the trade between the Philippines and the United States 
not onlv prevent development, but would it not almost destroy the 
trade we now have ? 

Secretary Taft. Yes, sir; there is a possibility that the islands 
may have a little trade with New England in cordage and hemp, but 
I very much doubt whether that business would not be destroyed. 

Mr. Jones. They now get a rebate on that export (! 

Secretary Taft. Yes, sir. 

The (^HAiRMAN. Notwithstanding the enactment of the law now 
in existence and the notice that the American shipping interests 
have had, only a fraction more than 6 per cent of the products com- 
ing from the Philippines to the United States were carried in Amer- 
ican bottoms during the last fiscal year. 

Secretary Taft. I was not aware that the statistics made such a 
poor showing, but it does not surprise me. 



HEAKINO ON SENATE BILL .-)2(J2, 5 

The Chairman. Your reasonino; is borne out by the facts. 

Secretary Taft. The present hiw requires that hemp niav receive 
a rebate where it shall be sent in any vessel direct to the United 
States. Perhaps that favors in some' little way American bottoms. 

I am sure there was no difference of (jpinion in the Senate committee 
on the subject of passing this act. That has already been indicated 
m the suspension of the act, or in the idea of temporarily makino- 
this act nonapplicable, and it seems to me that the reason for that 
position is a reason for making the provision permanent. Tliose of 
us who are in favor of this are glad to he in a position where it re- 
quires action rather than to be in a position of continuing the policy. 
That is reallv our interest in the matter.. 

Air. Jones. I was going to suggest that unless some members 
desire to have more infornuition from the Secretary upon the sub- 
ject, because I think that we all agree that this act ought to be 
passed, that I will move to make a favorable report upon the })ill. 

Thereupon the bill was ordered to be favorably reported. 

The Chairman. Before we close the hearing there are a few fig- 
ures that I would like have go in the record. The report of the 
Bureau of Customs for the fiscal year ending June 30. 1907, juade 
through the collector of customs in the Phihppine Islands, sets forth 
that of the foreign steam vessels which entered and cleared in the 
Philippines, to the number of 467, only 24 were American vessels, 
thus showing that at the present tinie there is no possibihty of 
American bottoms doing more than a small part of the business 
between the Philippines and the United States. Of the 10 saiHng 
vessels 8 were American vessels and 2 were British vessels, and all 
but 2 of them were under the British flag. It amounts to a demon- 
stration that if we do not pass a law like this and continue to try to 
force the trade to be carried on by American ships the trade will go 
elsewhere, as the Secretary has stated. 

STATEMENT OF HON. W. MORGAN SHUSTER, MEMBER OF THE 
PHILIPPINE COMMISSION AND SECRETARY OF PUBLIC 
INSTRUCTION. 

The Chairman. How long have you l)een stationed in the Philip- 
pine Islands? 

Air. Shuster. Since September, 1901~about six and a half years. 

The Chairman. Are you familiar witli the conditions of the schools 
in the Philippines? 

Mr. Shuster. I am. 

The Chairman. Have you examined H. R. 394? 

Mr. Shuster. I have. 

The Chairman. Will you please give us your opinion as to the 
advisability of the enactment of this bill for the general beneht of 
the schools in the Philippines? 

Mr. Shuster. I am strongly in favor of the prompt enactment of 
this bill. It will in the course of time give us a permanent school 
fimd, which will be of substantial aid to our system of public educa- 
tion. I have just read over the bill twice and have nothing to sug- 
gest except its prompt passage. It will be a popular measure in the 
Philippines. I think that it will make the people feel that Congress 
appreciates the progress which they are making in education and takes 



6 HEARIN(i ON .SENATE BILL'o262. 

sufficient interest in them to want to help them in every possible man- 
ner. I am sure that the law will be favored by every member of the 
Philippine government. 

The Chairman. About how many school children have you now? 

Mr. Shuster. About 480,000 at the present time. 

The Chairman. About how many attendants? 

Mr. Shuster. The actual averao;e daily attendance is probably less 
than 300,000, but I should explain that attendance at the schools in 
one respect is necessarily iiTeo;ular. A considerable number of the 
children can attend school only durino; certain seasons of the year. 
Their parents are poor, often extremely poor, and the children have 
to go to work at a very early age. During the seasons for gathering 
the crops in the different parts of the islands there is a marked dimi- 
nution in the attendance at the schools. This brings the daily aver- 
age of attendance down. For instance, the average total enrollment by 
months during the preceding school year was about 347,000. All 
the above figures are exclusive of the Moro Province, which has its 
own separate school department. All things considered, I think that 
the attendance is extremely good throughout the year. 

The Chairman. Generall}^ speaking, what have you to say of the 
condition of the schools there? 

Mr. Shuster. While an ideal condition does not exist there by any 
means, still the general educational situation is very much better than 
we had reason to anticipate. The principal idea has been to give the 
poorer classes, or the masses of the people, an opportunity to acquire 
a common school education, and in this I think that we have been 
successful. 

The (^hairman. What is the attitude of the j)eo])le towartl the 
schools ? ■ 

Mr. Shuster. At the present time the Filipinos are undeniably in 
strong favor of a public-school system throughout the islands. When 
it was first decided that the Filipinos should be taught in the English 
language there was undoubtedly some opposition to it. This was no 
more than natural. However, to the lasting cre(ht of the Filipino 
people be it said that, so soon as they realized what education meant 
for their children, the vast majority of them j^ave their suj)port to the 
public schools and to instruction in the Enghsh language. 

I have recently visited nearly every one of the 40 provinces and 
subprovinces in the islands — everyone of them once and some of 
them more than once — and have personally ins|)ecte(l the work of the 
primary, secondary, industrial, and high schools, so that I speak 
advisedly when I say that there is no general o])})Osition to the schools, 
and, furthermore, that the ])eople are generally favorable to the teach- 
ing of the English language in the schools. 

Mr. McKiNLAY. What progress have they made in that respect? 

Mr. Shuster. I think that the progress has been excellent, and the 
extension of the knowledge of English is most encouraging. 

Mr. McKiNLAY. Is that true of the older pupils? 

Mr. Shuster. It is true throughout the schools. As I go through 
the provinces I find a remarkable number of children, young and old, 
along the roads speaking fairly good English. They do not speak it 
with perfection by any means, but this is hardly surprising when you 
remember that it was only about seven years ago that the Govern- 
ment had neither schools nor teachers. It was necessary to build the 



HEARING ON SENATE l^ILL 52()2. 7 

former and to make a beginning by bringing the latter from the 
United States. In the year 1901 over 1,000 American teachers were 
brought to the Phihppines. The first thing to do was to "improvise" 
teachers among the FiHpinos — that is to say, it was necessary to teach 
a large number of Filipino young men and young women sufficient 
English to enable them to teach others in that language and some- 
thing^ of pedagogics. We now have between six and seven thousand 
Filipino teachers. In many cases they acquired the English language 
in two or three years. The native teachers are generally in charge of 
the primar}" or municipal schools, although a large number of them 
teach in the secondary grades. The results with the pupils are not 
perfect English in the lower grades, but in the secondary schools and 
m the high schools the English spoken is exceedingly good. 

The Chairman. What do you know of the normal school in Manila? 

Mr. Shuster. I think that it has been one of our most successful 
institutions. It has turned out a large number of Filipino teachers 
in a very short time, and the results which they have accomplished 
have been noteworthy. We had practically no Filipino teachers of 
English to start with, and that emergency was very well met by the 
normal school at Manila and the normal institutes which were estab- 
lished in most of the i^rovinces. In connection with the normal 
school at iManila a nurses' training course has been started, in which 
young women are given practical education in the care of the sick, in 
the simpler methods for the prevention of disease, and very careful 
and thorough instruction in the rules of household hygiene. 

Mr. McKiNLAY. Do the Moros accept the teaching of the English 
language, or is there resistance among that class? 

Mr. Shuster. I would not like to say that the Moros have taken as 
well to English as the Filipinos, though I feel some diffidence in 
speaking on that subject for the reason that the Moro Province is a 
separate and practicalh' autonomous government, and their school 
system is entirely so. 

The Chairman. It is under military" rule, is it not? 

Mr. Shuster. Yes, sir; practically so. 

The Chairman. Their religion is Mohammedan!? 

Mr. Shuster. Yes, sir. I might say that the Moros have shown 
considerable interest in the dift'erent branches 'of industrial work. 
The arts and trades and the use of modern tools seem to ap|)eal to 
them. 

The Chairman. Do you know anything about the attendance at 
the fair which they had in Mindanao ? 

Mr. Shuster. No, sir; I was not there. 

The Chairman. Do you know anything about the eagerness of 
the Moros to get American machinery? 

Mr. Shuster. I have read in the published accounts of the fair 
that they showed considerable interest along those lines. 

The Chairman. What class of school buildings are erected in the 
Philippines? 

Mr. Shuster. As far as may be possible, we build nothing but per- 
manent structures. The schoolhouses are generally built of rein- 
forced concrete, stone, or of hard woods. In a few cases we have used 
regular bricks. Several years ago it was necessary to erect some 
temporary structures, in order to get some kind of shelter for the 



8 HEARING ON SENATE BILL 5262. 

children. Of course, the erection of temporary buildings would not 
be an economical policy. 

The Chairman. How is it as to the furnishings of the school 
buildings ? 

Mr. Shuster. They are of a simple nature. In man}^ schools we 
have desks and seats which have been made by the pupils themselves. 

The Chairman. Was manual training taught in those schools? 

Mr. Shuster. Yes, sir; we give manual training in the schools. 
It has recently been made compulsory m the primary grades. Great 
stress is being laid on the importance of what we term "industrial 
work," including practical mstruction in agriculture and in domestic 
science for the young women. A large proportion of the funds 
appropriated for school construction last year were expended for 
schools of this description. The situation of the Filipinos, their pre- 
vious training and habits of thought, the agricultural and economic 
depression from which the islands have been suffering during the last 
ten years, and the consequent necessity of making every young mem- 
ber of the community a self-supportmg individual at the earliest 
practicable date, all counsel the adoption of this policy. 

In the different schools of arts and trades instruction is given in 
English, arithmetic, geography, mechanical drawing, in the use and 
care of modern machinery and tools, in woodworking, including 
bench work, carving, turnmg, and cabinetmaking; in ironworking, 
including bench work, filing, blacksmithing, and iron machine work, 
and in finishing, including painting and varnishing. We are also 
starting instruction in advanced boatbuilding and wheelwrighting. 
Exceptional aptitude and ability have been shown by the Filipino 
boys for these lines of work, and they exhibit great dexterity and 
quickness in the use of tools and implements of all kinds. The indus- 
trial instruction which I have just mentioned is of course that given 
in the regular trade schools. In the primary grades throughout the 
islands the industrial work includes weaving, hat making, drawing, 
elementary agriculture, woodworking (ship and carpentry), elemen- 
tary pottery and masonry, the making of rope, cordage, brooms, 
brushes, etc., by the boys, and weaving, sewing, cooking, dyeing, 
bleaching, hat making, and pottery for the girls. 

The Chairman. What do you say as to the aptitude of the Filipinos? 

Mr. Shuster. It is especially marked in any work involving the 
artistic senses, but they take well to all kinds of labor, which is con- 
trary to the predictions of many who went so far as to say that the 
Filipinos would not attend the trade schools because manual labor 
was opposed to their previous ideas and training. As a matter of 
fact, they have shown great enthusiasm for these schools, and are 

Eroud of their productions. These schools in turn have been of great 
enefit in imbuing the minds of the young men with the idea of the 
dignity of manual labor and of the lasting benefits of patient, constant, 
honest toil. 

In the Insular School of Arts and Trades at Manila, which is the 
principal industrial school of the islands, we have something like 400 
pupils, and over 200 applicants on the waiting list, for whom no 
teachers and quarters are available. Manila is the center of culture 
and wealth of the islands, and if there were any marked indisposi- 
tion on the part of the Filipinos to receive instruction along indus- 
trial lines it would be evident there. As a matter of fact, the pupils 



HEARINC4 ON SENATE BILL .j2(i2. 9 

of the insular school are extremely proud of their status and of their 
work. 

The Chairman. I was told that some of them evince talent in an 
architectural way and in the matter of drawing. 

Mr. Shuster. They have shown aptitude for that class of work. 
In the office of the Government arclutect, who makes the plans and 
drawings for all the schools and other buildings of the Government, 
a large number of Filipino draftsmen and assistants are employed. 
There are also a number of Filipino architects practicing their 
profession in Manila. I have no reason to doubt that with proper 
educational opportunities they would make exceptionally good archi- 
tects. The Filipinos have an innate bent for artistic work of all 
kinds, such as music, painting, drawing, sculpturing, and carving. 

Mr. Olmsted. Can you give us any idea as to the amount of the 
sale of public lands? 

Mr. Shuster. That would be difficult. I tliink that at the pres- 
ent time the sales of public lands are increasing slightly, but they are 
not considerable; I would hesitate about trying to give you figures 
without looking up the data. There is no indication that in the 
immediate future the sales of public land will be large. In the course 
of time, however, the revenues derived from this source should be 
substantial. 

The Chairman. We will be compelled to close at this point, and I 
am sure that the committee is very much obliged to Mr. Shuster for 
his presence and his valuable statement. 

(Thereupon the committee adjourned.) 



019 846 354 



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